Scratch Game

Intermediate

40 mins

Teacher/Student led

145 points

What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC or iPad/Tablet

Dino food game

In this lesson, students will learn to create a simple game using Scratch. They will add and manipulate characters, control movement using keyboard keys, and make characters interact. They will also learn to add a backdrop to their game.

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes Lesson Files

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1 Welcome to Dino Food Game
2 Create a new Scratch project
3 Add a character
4 Shrink the dinosaur
5 Make the dinosaur move up and down
6 Make the dinosaur move left and right
7 Add the Beetle sprite
8 Make the beetle move on it's own
9 Catch and eat the beetle
10 Add a backdrop
11 Wrap up
Challenge
Quiz

1 - Welcome to Dino Food Game

Welcome to our exciting coding adventure! Today, we're going to create a fun game using Scratch. In this game, you'll control a dinosaur who loves to eat beetles. Your job is to help the dinosaur catch as many beetles as it can. We'll learn how to add characters, make them move, and even add sounds. Let's get started!

2 - Create a new Scratch project

Open the Scratch website create a new project. Delete the cat sprite from the project.

scratch.mit.edu

Scratch: How to create a new project

Go to the Scratch website using the link below and click on the 'Create' link in the blue bar at the top.

By default, each new project starts with the cat sprite already added. To delete the cat click on the x in the blue circle beside the cat in the sprite list.

https://scratch.mit.edu

5 points

3 - Add a character

In the game we are going to make a dinosaur move around by using the arrow keys on our keyboard.

But first let's add the Dinosaur4 sprite from the sprite library.

Scratch: How to add a sprite from the library

To add a sprite from the sprite library follow these steps:

Put your mouse over the Choose a Sprite button
Click on the magnifying glass
Find the sprite you want in the library
Click on your chosen sprite

You can use search box or the filter links (Animals, People, Fantasy etc) to locate your sprite.

10 points

4 - Shrink the dinosaur

When the dinosaur sprite gets added to our project, it's a bit too big for our game so let's add some code to shrink it and make it smaller.

Add the following code to the dinosaur sprite:

when green flag clicked set size to (50) %

Click on the green flag and the dinosaur sprite will shrink to half it's normal size.

15 points

5 - Make the dinosaur move up and down

Next we will program the dinosaur sprite to move up and down when we press the up and down arrow keys on our keyboard.

Each time we press an arrow key, we will point the dinosaur in that direction and then make them move 10 steps.

Add the following code to the dinosaur sprite:

when [up arrow v] key pressed point in direction (0) move (10) steps when [down arrow v] key pressed point in direction (180) move (10) steps

Once you've added the code test that it works by pressing the up and down arrow keys and checking that the dinosaur moves in the correct direction. If the dinosaur goes in the wrong direction, check that you have the right numbers in the code blocks.

Scratch: Using a tablet or iPad? Tap here for different controls

Since your tablet or iPad doesn’t have a physical keyboard, you’ll use on-screen buttons to complete this task. Wherever the instructions in this lesson mention pressing a key, you’ll need to tap a button on the screen instead. So, while your steps are a little different, you’ll still be able to make everything happen in your project.

So for example, instead of doing either of these:

when [left arrow v] key pressed move (10) steps if < key [left arrow v] pressed? > then move (10) steps end

You need to add an on-screen button (like an arrow sprite) and use this code:

when this sprite clicked move (10) steps

Now, just tap the button on the screen to perform the same action!

15 points

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Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available for free at https://scratch.mit.edu